LA Indie Band Warpaint Previews New Album ‘Radiate Like This’ with “Hips,” Details U.S. Tour

Los Angeles indie/rock ensemble Warpaint will return on May 6 with Radiate Like This, the band’s first album in six years.

The latest song shared from the record is “Hips,” which very much features the group’s signature sound of layered vocals and a slick, sleek energy:

It’s the second track debuted so far, following “Stevie” and its kaleidoscopic video:

Click here to pre-order Radiate Like This on CD from our Rock Cellar Store
Click here to pre-order Radiate Like This on LP from our Rock Cellar Store

What took Warpaint so long to make a new record? A news release details the gap:

In the six years since 2016’s much-lauded Heads Up, Warpaints four members—Emily Kokal, Jenny Lee Lindberg, Stella Mozgawa and Theresa Wayman—have been busy living. Babies, jobs, tours, solo albums, intercontinental and cross country moves all became priorities, presenting mounting logistical challenges to getting the band back together, as they say, and allowing a little space to think “what if we didn’t?”

Eventually, though, each of the women found themselves drawn inexorably back together. Warpaint is as much a home for them as a band, having been together for nearly 20 years. They had just completed the foundational tracking sessions with co-producer Sam Petts-Davies (Thom Yorke, Frank Ocean, Skullcrusher) when the pandemic hit and they were forced to retreat to respective safety.

What followed was the making of a wholly different Warpaint album. Physically separated by the pandemic, each musician recorded her parts separately—often in makeshift home studios—before sending on to the next, creating songs layer by layer. Deciding to delay the release until they could tour allowed them to further hone each track, spending more time building and rebuilding than they had in the past. The result is a body of work that is sharper and more focused than any of their previous, each song as tight, beguiling and proud as a diamond.

“I was saying the other day that we should’ve called this album “Exquisite Corpse”, but it was already taken,” jokes Kokal, referring to the title of the band’s debut EP. Radiate Like This captures what’s always been the magic of Warpaint—the delicate interplay of four separate parts coalescing in motion—while somehow allowing each individual to shine a little brighter.

Warpaint also detailed a U.S. tour for the summer in support of the album. The schedule:

May 9 La Cigale Paris, France
May 11 O2 Academy Bristol, United Kingdom
May 12 Albert Hall, Manchester United Kingdom
May 13 SWG3 Galvanisers Glasgow, United Kingdom
May 14 National Stadium Dublin, Ireland
May 17 De La Warr Pavilion Bexhill, United Kingdom
May 18 The Roundhouse London, United Kingdom
May 20 Huxleys Berlin, Germany
May 21 Live Music Hall Cologne, Germany
May 22 Fabrik Hamburg, Germany
May 24 Paradiso Amsterdam, Netherlands
May 26 Ancienne Belgique Brussels, Belgium
May 28 Progresja Warsaw, Poland
June 1 Zorlu Performing Arts Center Istanbul, Turkey
June 3 Primavera Sound Barcelona, Spain
July 20 Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA*
July 22 Capital Turnaround Washington, D.C.*
July 23 The Sinclair Cambridge, MA*
July 24 Brooklyn Made Brooklyn, NY*
July 27 Opera House Toronto, ON*
July 28 El Club Detroit, MI
August 18 The Observatory Santa Ana, CA
August 19 John Anson Ford Theatre Los Angeles, CA
August 20 Psycho Festival Las Vegas, NV
August 22 The UC Theatre Berkeley, CA
August 23 Ace of Spades Sacramento, CA
August 25 The Crocodile Seattle, WA
August 26 The Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, B.C.
August 27 Revolution Hall Portland, OR
* with Belief